Currently, three options exist for a user who wishes to gather information from a web site accessible over the Internet. The first option is to use a desktop or a laptop computer connected to a telephone line via a modem or connected to a network with Internet access. The second option is to use a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) that has the capability of connecting to the Internet either through a modem or a wireless connection. The third option is to use one of the newly designed web-phones or web-pagers that are now being offered on the market. Although each of these options provide a user with access to the Internet to browse web sites, each of them have their own drawbacks.
Desktop computers are very large and bulky and are difficult to transport. Laptop computers solve this inconvenience, but many are still quite heavy and are inconvenient to carry. Further, laptop computers cannot be carried and used everywhere a user travels. For instance, if a user wishes to obtain information from a remote location where no electricity or communication lines are installed, it would be nearly impossible to use a laptop computer. Oftentimes, information is needed on an immediate basis where a computer is not accessible. Furthermore, the use of laptop or desktop computers to access the Internet requires either a direct or a dial-up connection tan an Internet Service Provider (ISP). Oftentimes, such connections are not available when a user desires to connect to the Internet to acquire information.
The second option for remotely accessing web sites is the use of PDAs. These devices also have their own set of drawbacks. First, PDAs with the ability to connect to the Internet and access web sites are not readily available. As a result, these PDAs tend to be very expensive. Furthermore, users are usually required to pay a special service fee to enable the web browsing feature of the PDA. A further disadvantage of these PDAS is that web sites must be specifically designed to allow these devices to access information on the web site. Therefore, a limited number of web sites are available that are accessible by these web-enabled PDAs. Finally, it is very common today for users to carry cell phones, however, users must also carry a separate PDA if they require the ability to gather information from various web sites. Users are therefore subjected to added expenses since they must pay for both cellular telephone service and also for the web-enabling service for the PDA. This results in a very expensive alternative for the consumer.
The third alternative mentioned above is the use of web-phones or web-pagers. These devices suffer many of the same drawbacks as PDAs. First, these devices are expensive to purchase. Further, the number of web sites accessible to these devices is limited since web sites must be specifically designed to allow access by these devices. Furthermore, users are often required to pay an additional fee in order to gain wireless web access. Again, this service is expensive. Another drawback of these web-phones or web-pagers is that as technology develops, the methods used by the various web sites to allow access by these devices may change. These changes may require users to purchase new web-phones or web-pagers or have the current device serviced in order to upgrade the firmware or operating system stored within the device. At the least, this would be inconvenient to users and may actually be quite expensive.
Therefore, a need exists for a system that allows users to easily access and browse the Internet from any location. Such a system would only require users to have access to any type of telephone and would not require users to subscribe to multiple services.
In the rapidly changing area of Internet applications, web sites change frequently. The design of the web site may change, the information required by the web site in order to perform searches may change, and the method of reporting search results may change. Web browsing applications that submit search requests and interpret responses from these web sites based upon expected formats will produce errors and useless responses when such changes occur. Therefore, a need exists for a system that can detect modifications to web sites and adapt to such changes in order to quickly and accurately provide the information requested by a user through a voice enabled device, such as a telephone.
When users access web sites using devices such as personal computers, delays in receiving responses are tolerated and are even expected, however, such delays are not expected when a user communicates with a telephone. Users expect communications over a telephone to occur immediately with a minimal amount of delay time. A user attempting to find information using a telephone expects immediate responses to his search requests. A system that introduces too much delay between the time a user makes a request and the time of response will not be tolerated by users and will lose its usefulness. Therefore, it is important that a voice browsing system that uses telephonic communications selects web sites that provide rapid responses since speed is an important factor for maintaining the system's desirability and usability. Therefore, a need exists for a system that accesses web sites based upon their speed of operation.